Scammers and Spammers Phishing in the Rubble of Our Financial Institutions.

From the As If Things Can’t Get Worse Department . . .

From a clip on Slashdot: “You could probably see this one coming. With all of the confusion and money involved you knew there would be cyber-vultures out there looking to cash in. Well the Federal Trade Commission today issued a warning that indeed such increased phishing activities are taking place. Specifically the FTC said it was urging user caution regarding e-mails that look as if they come from a financial institution that recently acquired a consumer’s bank, savings and loan, or mortgage. In many case such emails are only looking to obtain personal information — account numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers — to run up bills or commit other crimes in a consumer’s name, the FTC stated.”

Guru’s Note: If you’re a Bank of America customer, please read on: ScanSafe and other Web security watchers are reporting a big uptick in the number of hackers using the Bank of America brand in a phishing attack that uses the bad economy as a lure.

Leading email and web security company Barracuda Networks saw a big jump in pump-and-dump stock spam messages that claim entertainment companies are benefiting from the falling economy. The messages claim the companies being touted are “recession proof.” Don’t we all wish we knew exactly who is going to coast through this mess?

Help on the way? Identity Theft Red Flag Rules go into affect November 1. A report on NetworkWorld says that Banks and other financial institutions typically account for about half of the identity theft complaints filed with the FTC and a recent survey showed Bank of America, JP Morgan, Capital One and Citibank topping the FTC list. That’s one of the reasons why under the Red Flags Rules, financial institutions and creditors must develop a written program that identifies and detects the relevant warning signs – or “red flags” – of identity theft. These may include, for example, unusual account activity, fraud alerts on a consumer report, or attempted use of suspicious account application documents. The program must also describe appropriate responses that would prevent and mitigate the crime and detail a plan to update the program.